About Doctrines
Spiritual Gifts
One of the great blessings of Christianity is that God has provided each and every one of His children with gifts and talents. Some may have only one or two gifts, other may have many. Some gifts seem fairly common place while others are viewed as being spectacular. All of the gifts are needed for the body to operate in the precise manner desired and designed by God.
In Romans 12:4, 5, Paul provides a shorthand description of this concept. His fuller discussion is found in 1 Corinthians 12, a church divided over the proper use of gifts. Here, Paul wants us to reflect upon the importance of being members of the unit and the need to perform the role assigned to us. We may understand these relationships if we view ourselves soberly and take a proper assessment of ourselves.
Paul's writings have three lists of spiritual gifts. Peter's letter adds another short list. It is generally viewed that the list in Ephesians is more properly a listing of the offices given as gifts to the church, while the lists in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Peter are lists of the gifts given to individuals. A comparison of the lists exposes a great deal of difference in the makeup of the lists. This strongly supports the contention that none of the lists are complete, nor are they complete as a composite. There are other gifts at work in the church never precisely mentioned in Scripture as a gift. This should come as no surprise. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians the gifts are determined by God solely for the purpose of building up the Church.
1 Corinthians 12:7
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: NKJV1 Corinthians 12:11
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. NKJV
The true point of all these lists is that they are not just listings of gifts for us to muse over. Paul is exhorting believers, in each of these situations, to use their gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ, the Church.
